Translation is not always about big jobs. Sometimes you receive those little jobs that are too small to schedule but too big to squeeze them in easily. Sometimes they are also annoying, not to talk about stressful. Charging those little jobs by your word rate is not affordable often. Who can set up a TM, translate, edit and deliver within a few hours for only € 2? Nobody. That’s why there is the minimum fee. But hey, they help clients too…
One of the most important things for translators is Quality. In translations not only the linguistic quality matters, but also the quality of your service, the overall quality of the files delivered and the value you offer for your client’s money. Sloppy sentences are bad but they can to some extend be compensated by your service. But when you deliver bad service too (missing deadlines, bad communication) you don’t need to expect clients to come back. In the end that can mean the end of your translation business.
To help you and to share what works for me, I defined 5 steps you that can improve your translation business.
Translation requires knowledge, dedication and accuracy. Translation agencies and end clients require us to do our job good and to deliver in high quality. Typos and spelling errors are odious. And that’s justified: many translations are for a big audience. Those who read them need to understand the translation like winking and there should be no misunderstandings about the meaning of a particular text. However, there’s no omelet without breaking eggs.
And fails can even occur when the translation is perfect. I noticed it last week…